Nokia Lumia 635: First Impressions and Photos

Nokia's new Lumia 635 is in the house, so I'll be evaluating it over the next few weeks to see whether it's a viable replacement for the best-selling Lumia 520/521. Despite some disappointingly low-end specs, it appears to be a typically solid Nokia product, with a nice form factor, a gorgeous screen, and one really compelling internal feature I'm quite curious about.

As a replacement for the Lumia 520 and 521, the Nokia Lumia 635 targets the low-end of the market and as such we shouldn't act surprised at some of the less-than-desirable specs. I'll get to the full rundown in a moment, but the one that does rankle is the inexcusable lack of a hardware camera button. This is the first Windows Phone handset to omit this feature, I believe, and certainly the first Lumia (along with its international sibling, the 630). There is absolutely no justification for this decision, in my opinion.

That said, I intend to use this device as a replacement for my trusty Lumia 520, which means that after the evaluation period is over, I'll use it as a media device. In that sense, the 635 should work just fine: I can add up to 128 GB of microSD storage, which is overkill for even a big music, podcast and audiobook collection.

But most people don't have this luxury. The Lumia 635—which is available on both T-Mobile (the version I received) and, soon, on AT&T Wireless here in the United States—is really targeting the low-end of the market. And that means that, for many customers, this will be their actual phone. So they'll use its standard communications capabilities, productivity and entertainment apps, games, and camera. And I'll be testing the device, accordingly, to see how well it performs in these primary functions.

Microsoft Mobile/Nokia, curiously, didn't send me the normal retail packaging, though I did get everything that normally comes in the box. (This is no loss; T-Mobile's retail boxes are just as lousy as anything AT&T can throw together.) I did find the Cortana-themed lunchbox to be amusing, however.

Inside the box, you get the same set of accessories that accompanied the Lumia 520/521, a strange all-in-one power adapter (where the USB cable is fused to the plug) and then a separate, very short USB cable you can use for charging the device on a PC or whatever.

I like the solid feel of the 635, and I prefer its slightly larger size compared to the Lumia 520/521. This is a 520 pictured here for comparison's sake as I have since gotten rid of my Lumia 521, but the 520 and 521 are roughly the same size, so you get the idea.

Lumia 635 (left) and Lumia 520 (right)

As with the 520/521, you can pry off the high quality plastic back, exposing the removable battery, SIM card/slot and microSD slot. This means you can also theoretically replace the back with a different colored back, something I did do with my Lumia 520 (though it required buying the part internationally). I believe that both T-Mobile and AT&T will offer different colored covers, and assume that this time they are interchangeable between carriers (the 520 and 521 covers were not as the devices were strangely and subtly different).

Spec-wise, the Lumia 635 is mostly disappointing, even when you factor in the fact that it's targeting the affordable end of the market. (On T-Mobile, you can purchase a 635 for $0 down and $7 per month for two years, for example, or buy it outright for just $99.) These include:

CPU. Quad-core 1.2 GHz Snapdragon 400 processor.

RAM. 512 MB, which was the basement last year. I'm thinking almost anyone would be better off with 1 GB and would like to see this needle moved.

Display. The 4.5-inch ClearBlack display is gorgeous, and as I've pointed out many times, there is something about Windows Phone's display scaling that makes even a low-res display—like this 854 x 480 unit—look absolutely fine. Yes, we're in an era of HD and up mobile displays. But don't let this one scare you off. (The device uses software-based Back, Start and Search buttons, so when you factor those out, the effective resolution is the Windows Phone standard 800 x 480.)

Storage. 8 GB internal, up to 128 GB via microSD. Now that you can install almost everything on a microSD card thanks to Windows Phone 8.1, this is absolutely acceptable.

Main camera. The 635 sports a (for Nokia) very low end 5 megapixel camera. There is nothing special here: auto focus, 4x digital zoom, f/2.4 aperture, and so on. But I'll test it. (I haven't yet.) Not a big deal, but the camera does provide just the tiniest of camera bumps on the back.

OS. The Lumia 635 ships with both Windows Phone 8.1 and the Lumia Cyan firmware update.

Sensor Core. This is the dark horse in all this. Despite the low-end RAM and camera, which sort of dull the impact of this device, the Lumia 635 does come with Nokia's new Sensor Core technology, which lets fitness apps track your activity using the device's built-in hardware, but without impacting battery life. The Bing Health & Fitness app works with this technology, so I'll compare how it works vs. the Fitbit I normally use.

I really want a Windows phone. I tried one out a few months ago but returned it for lack of an important feature. Mail has no unified Inbox. I use lots of rules that move mail to Folders. I have to be able to see all new unread mail in one place. Why is MS not getting this feature done. Desktop Outlook does it. Third party apps on Android get it done... why not MS?

WP already supports unified inboxes. After you have setup more than one email account on the phone, just select "link inboxes" from the command (menu) bar and you can then link several inboxes together. It works great.

If you mean displaying on one screen "all unread" emails that are in each email account and that have been auto-sorted to Folders, I don't think even Desktop Outlook does this.

Windows Phone has had a "link inboxes" feature for years.

Tap the three ... at the bottom right of any inbox screen, to show the option to "link inboxes". Once linked, when you open that "unified mailbox", all email in the "Inboxes" of each account linked under that "unified mailbox" are shown. Swiping right to left takes you to the "unread" screen. Admittedly, you will not be able to see any unread emails that are in other Folders, besides the "inbox" Folder for each account. However, you can tap the ... again and select "show more folders" which then displays all the sub folders in each linked email account respectively. Unread emails are displayed in parentheses eg: FolderName (5). Tapping that FolderName and swiping right to left to "unread" will display unread emails in that Folder only.

But then this behaviour is similar for Outlook Desktop. For Outlook 2013, clicking "Unread" only displays the unread emails in that inbox Folder, not those in other Folders.

Several of you have pointed out that WP has a unified Inbox, and indeed it does. What I want to be able to do is see all unread mail that has been sent to various Folders by Rules. I have an Office 365 account and use Outlook Desktop 2013 and this can be done very easily. Just create a search for unread mail and put the link to it in the Favorites section of the Folder tree. This can be done on Android with the 3rd party app Touchdown. When MS does this on WP, I will buy one.

I had a 521 for about a year. Great phone for the price. I'm not a gamer, so I didn't miss the extra 1/2 MB that some feel is needed. I prefer that MS included a flash. But what's really needed is an off contract midrange phone: 720p, 1 GB RAM, 8 MP shooter, expandable storage, 5" screen for about $200.

So far so good. I did a comparison of top games in the store on the 1520 vs the 635 and you really have to get far in there to find titles that don't work. That's not the only measurement, of course, but it's a useful one. Performance seems good.

I like the short USB cable. I spent $14 at Best Buy for a short cable for my Istuff. They work great in a cars that have a USB port without the mess for a three foot cable. Also my motorcycle has a usb port and place for Media player, works there also.

How much more usable space is on the screen vs. the 520? It almost looks like the entire 1/2 inch larger size is dedicated to the software buttons. The actual content area displayed on the two devices' screens seems almost identical, but maybe the white background and extra column of tiles on the 520 is screwing with my eyes.

I'm curious how the music quality is. I had a Samsung Focus, and used it every day for music...it sounded fine. Then I got a Nokia 925 and was shocked out how bad the sound quality is. Crackling at times, low overall volume, and it's coupled with Win8's REALLY annoying habit of listing a single song from an album in the music history...right next to the actual album that I want to hear.
Sometimes these things feel like steps backward.

Dear God, the bottom bezel... At this price point, one can't complain, but is it as big as it looks? To me, it just cries out for those capacitive buttons. I'm interested to see how the software-based buttons work in practice, too. They look awfully small and like my man-mitts would end out hitting the area above them.

Looking forward to your take on using it as a media player... My 520 with a 64gb card makes for a killer workout player.

Have to agree on the 512 MB vs 1 GB on the handset. While I really like the value of the the 520 there is a noticeable delay when waking it up (2-3" resuming) or when switching apps. If the Moto G can produce a handset with 720P, 1 GB RAM with LTE and micro SD for $219 then MS/Nokia ought to be able to do the same. The $1 or 2 they save with 512 MB really penalizes the user and may cause some bad impressions of Windows Phone due to slow performance. While the OS is fluid while you're using it, it is slow to wake up from sleep and apps are slow to load. Most of this is due to 512 MB RAM. I picked up a Moto G (3G model with only 8 MB storage with no micro SD) for only $50 at BB (locked to Verizon PrePaid) but was only looking to see what the handset is like. for the Retail price in the $129-$150 range this is a very nice handset as it uses mostly "Stock" Android with a few Moto enhancements all of which are fairly useful (Moto Assist, Moto Migrate, Moto Drive mode, etc). The Moto G really makes the 520/521 look bad in every respect.

In the comparison photo the 635 seems to have a huge empty space between the bottom of the screen and the bottom of the phone. What is the purpose of having software-based Back, Start and Search buttons using up screen real-estate, if there is room for hardware buttons on the phone?
Did the yellow back cover you ordered have a different texture than the black cover? I was disappointed to find that the yellow 520 I bought, was made of slippery plastic compared to the rubbery cover on the black 520 that was on display in the store.

It doesn't have a hardware camera button because it was designed as an Android phone first/as well. That's also the reason for using the soft buttons and the 854x480 display - Android also supports soft buttons and uses a height of 54 pixels for the button bar.

There might be a couple of other Lumias in the pipeline that don't feature a camera button or use soft buttons, but I'd expect Microsoft to revert to real buttons as soon as possible.

I pre-ordered the 635 from HSN because I had not been able to download the 8.1 preview on my 521. I was finally successful last week and I really like all the improvements. The 635 arrived yesterday and I'm not sure it's worth unboxing. I really like the 521's camera button and I use it often. Right now, I'm thinking of just mailing the 635 back.

I have the 521. Despite its low specs, it does everything I need it to do & it allowed me to fall head over heels with the Windows Phone OS. I ordered the lumia 635 a few days ago, but HSN seems to be taking it's sweet time; I'm not sure if it has even shipped. I was going to switch between the 521 & 635 for Comic-con San Diego, as neither boast incredible battery (& at an event where being in-sync with media is imperative & thus quickly drains your devices of juice). The powerbank was a handy bonus. How long did it take to arrive? & if you have opened the packaging, do you have any pictures @aggiefather?

I have a Lumia 1520 and just bought the 635 to take to the gym and take on runs. So far I really surprised by how well the phone runs. My money was not wasted. My question is that when I go to the microsoft store they advertise a Qi wireless charging stand that says it is compatible with the Lumia 635. I tried in vain to find out how could I know if my 635 supported Qi charging but after 2 support persons both having no answers. I gave up and I find it hard to believe that you can't even get an email address to send questions or complaints to. If you are going to sell a device, shouldn't you be able to answer some questions about the device? Guess it is to much to ask. Do you know if the 635 supports Qi wireless charging? Or will they be coming out with a wireless charging case? Or do you know of a hack for that? Thanks

There is a lot of apps and games being optimized to support 512 MB RAM since the success of Nokia Lumia 52x. I can see why they went with 512 MB RAM again at this time. Perhaps, that also encourages developers to optimize their apps and games memory footprint. Can that somehow translate into a positive for devices with 1+ GB RAM?

I just ordered a 635 for my wife and boy. He'll get his for Christmas but my wife needs her since her 521 has completely died. She has had many of issues with signals and dropping phone calls even with wifi calling (the boy also had a 521 with no issues).

I'm hoping she has better luck with the 635.

I've been using a 520 for the last month since my Sandisk Sansa MP3 player died and it's pretty good for that (nice and loud with the speaker).

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